Posts Tagged «software»

North Korea was indeed responsible for the massive hack on Sony Pictures, according to officials from within the US government. The problem is, there is very little evidence that North Korea was actually behind the attack — which makes me wonder, a) Why is the US government fingering North Korea? and b) If it wasn’t North Korea, who hacked Sony Pictures?

If you’re still lamenting the loss of The Pirate Bay, which was shut down last week by Swedish police, you now have an intriguing new option: If you have some web hosting, a small amount of tech savvy, and you’re located in a country where it’s legal, you can now easily host your own Pirate Bay.

For the past five years, Microsoft has been forced to offer first-time Windows users in Europe a choice of web browser. This was a result of an EU ruling in 2009, which found that Microsoft had been unfairly abusing its operating system monopoly to push Internet Explorer into the hands of millions of unwitting, unfortunate users. Now, however, Microsoft is once again free to make Internet Explorer the default web browser in Windows.

Steam, one of the sole bastions of sanity when it comes to digital games distribution, has enabled region locking on games. This means if you buy a game in one territory, you can no longer use it in another territory — much like DVD region locking (but more effective, as Steam’s region locking hasn’t been cracked). While this might look like oppressive behavior by Valve, there’s actually a very good reason behind the locks: Unstable currencies, like the Russian ruble, caused by the crashing price of crude oil. Or maybe Valve (and publishers) are just sick of people buying games cheaply in other territories, then redeeming them in their (more expensive) home countries.

The long running class action lawsuit, which just concluded in Apple’s favor, alleged that Apple acted as an illegal monopolist, artificially keeping iPod prices high by limiting its interoperability with content purchased from other music stores. Is there any basis to these claims, or were Apple’s moves simply a case of good, solid business sense?

Back in June, HP announced that it would be plowing almost all of its R&D efforts into a brand new type of computer called The Machine. At the time, HP provided very few details — but now we have a rough timeline for the first working prototype of The Machine (2016), and news that the operating system for The Machine, called Linux++, will be released as early as June 2015.

A week ago, The Pirate Bay was raided and shut down. At this point, with no resurrection apparently forthcoming, it looks like it might be dead forever. This hasn’t stopped fake sites from popping up — including, rather amusingly, a site called Old Pirate Bay that is being managed by IsoHunt, one of Pirate Bay’s largest rivals. Ah, the futility of shutting down file sharing websites.

An upcoming version of the Windows 10 Technical Preview has leaked, and it has some really, really big changes. Most notably, it looks like the original Control Panel might be going away, replaced by the new Metro-style PC Settings app — and, somewhat oddly, it looks like you’ll be able to buy Xbox One apps from the Windows 10 app store. There are also lots of changes to the UI, and a general downplaying of Metro. All in all, Windows 10 is looking very nice indeed.

Remember that neat little cardboard contraption that turns your Android smartphone into a pair of do-it-yourself virtual reality goggles? Well, it seems that Google isn’t content to let that cheeky little idea die. Instead, the folks at Mountain View are doubling down on this adorable low-cost VR solution, and dedicating an entire section of the Play Store to Google Cardboard.

For some reason, we often think of computers as infallible — subjective, logical, rational, and nearly always right. There is something about a computer’s lack of emotion and intelligence that makes them strangely trustworthy — while, on the other hand, despite their massive intelligence, we all know that humans are deeply flawed and prone to all sorts of biases. As it turns out, computers are deeply flawed as well: Optical illusions can work on computers, too.

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